Aging & Longevity, Conference Round Up 2016.

Here is my third annual list of selected major conferences or symposiums around the world, under the macro theme of Aging and Longevity. As usual, the challenge with covering this field is where do you start and stop with a list that could end up being so massive as to be of no real focus. Some of these events are very commercial in nature and some more academic and some are a blend, and or very segmented in topic areas such as anti-aging, healthcare and medical science.

In developing this short list for 2016, as with last year what I looked for were three criteria. First, in addition to Canadian, was international representation. Then I looked for a diversity of subject areas, which in this case ranges from sociology to gerontology and caregiving. Thirdly, I was looking for that blend of academic and non-academic.

Throughout the year as it was in 2015, across the globe there will be countless, specialized, local or regional forums addressing aspects of Aging and Longevity, from Alzheimer’s and Aging, to Neuroscience and Longevity at one end of the spectrum, to Entrepreneurial opportunities in the business of aging at the other end. Every year the dialogue, in what is now often called the “longevity economy”, gets wider and wider, and almost oversaturated in some cases.

Yet this isn’t a bad thing, except that I ask – how do you find something new to say, to contribute to the conversation? I think there is still plenty of room for this dialogue to grow, because the reality is that, as far as we can determine, the social and economic shifts related to aging demographics is not going to go away, but things will morph – maybe in ways unexpected, as future global wild card events occur.

So if you have the inclination to participate, some of these conferences are still asking for abstract submissions and as a result, the programs are not complete. As the year progresses, I will keep track of and share any interesting content that emerges from these conferences and others that take place. Here’s the call to confer!

Aging & Society Conference October 6-7, 2016 – Norrköping, Sweden
This is the 6th Interdisciplinary conference with theme not yet announced, but their international focus is on “the changing social dynamics of aging”